With more than 1300 altcoins listed on coinmarketcap, it’s not an easy task to determine which…

With more than 1300 altcoins listed on coinmarketcap, it’s not an easy task to determine which altcoins deserve your hard earned money. But here are few factors that you can consider while researching a altcoin/project:

Team Behind it – Do they have reputable background? What experience do they bring to the table? Have they been involved with other cryptos before?

Technology – Are they trying to solve a problem? Is it useful? What’s different or unique about their technology?

Timeline – Do they have a roadmap? Do they have clear, defined goals? Are there new features being released? Is the right time to invest?

Valuation – Have a look at their current market evaluation. Is it priced right? Lots of altcoins are priced way too high, stay away from them.

Disclaimer: This answer isn’t giving you investment advice. You should always seek your own professional financial advisor and do your own research before investing or trading.

That being said, Here are my top 5 cryptocurrencies :

1. NEO

Current Market Cap : $3.6 billion.

Who created it? Da Hongfei, Co-Founder of Onchain.

NEO is similar to Ethereum which focuses on blockchain to develop dApps( Decentralized applications) and smart contracts. Smart contract is a customized blockchain which can automate certain actions when conditions are met. For example, you can automate monthly payments to an employee or settle an account with a distributor. When you hold NEO, you become shareholder in the blockchain and just like shareholders recieve dividends. NEO generates a token called GAS, at the rate of 8 GAS per block with thhe construction of the blockchain. NEO has huge potential in the future, can’t wait to see how 2018 will be for NEO.

2. RaiBlocks(XRB)

Current Market Cap : $0.56billion.

Who created it? Colin LeMahieu, Founder and lead developer at RaiBlocks.

RaiBlocks features instant transaction confirmation and has a low energy consumption. RaiBlocks uses a block-lattice structure. Each account has its own blockchain, which can be updated only by account’s owner. This allows transaction to be updated immediately and asynchronously with block-lattice structure. It offers feeless fastest transaction on the market. RaiBlocks is currently very undervalued because it’s listed on two exchanges only, Bitgrail and Mercatox. RaiBlocks is going to be a gamechanger in 2018.

3. OmiseGo(OMG)

Current Market Cap : $1.3 billion.

Who created it? Jun Hasegawa, CEO and Founder of OmiseGo.

OmiseGO is the answer to a fundamental coordination problem amongst payment processors, gateways and financial institutions. Using decentralized exchange, OmiseGO provides a next-generation value transfer service operating across currencies and asset types at low cost. OmiseGo is an ERC20 Ethereum based token and can be stored on Ethereum wallets. Slow and stable rise as its product improves.

4. Request Network(REQ)

Current Market Cap : $0.15 billion.

Who created it? Etienne Tatur and Christophe Lassuyt, Co-founders of Request Network.

Request Network is a decentralized network built on top of Ethereum, which allows anyone, anywhere to request a payment.The request can be detected and paid in a secure way, without the need to involve a third party. The request is saved on an immutable, authentic ledger, which acts as a unique source of truth for accounting and auditing processes. Request integrates a trade law system and works across every legislation. Request works with every global currency. It’s very undervalued at the moment and a major update was done months ahead of schedule.

5. Stellar(XLM)

Current Market Cap : $3.9 billion.

Who created it? Joyce Kim, Co-founder of Stellar.

Stellar is an IBM backed, global and decentralized payment solution. The goal here is to allow people and banks to transact in various currencies across the globe while finding the best exchange rate in real time. Very promising future and partnership with IBM will lead to great things.

Let me know in the comments section about which cryptocurrencies you think would go big in 2018.

New to Cryptoverse? You can buy Bitcoin and Ethereum on Cex.io or Coinbase. You can buy altcoins with your BTC/ETH on Binance or Changelly. Hardware wallets that store your coins offline safely – Ledger Wallets.

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Also, check out How to keep your Cryptocurrency safe.

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